Machine for automatically bending chain-links.



No. 652,l47. Patented lune |9, l900.

H. SPUHL.

MACHINE FDR AUTOMATICALLY BENDING CHAIN LINKS.

(Applicatiofl filed Nov. 21, 1899.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet I.

TNE Norms PETERS 20., PMu'ru-u'mou WASHINGTON. n. c.

No. 652,I47. Patented June [9, I900.

I H. SPUHL.

MACHINE FOB AUTOMATICALLY BENDING Gl-IAIN LINKS.

I (Application filed Nov. 21, 1899.) (N0 M B 5 Sheets-Shae: 2.

'mz NORRIS PETERS 0a., PHOTO-LITHQ, WASNINGTON, v. c.

Patented June [9, I900.

No. s52,|47.

I H. SPUHL.

MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY BENDING CHAIN LINKS.

(Application filed Nov. '21, 1899.)

5 Sheets-Shaet 3.

(N0 Model.)

25in asses ZZZ/ arn a g No. 652,l47. Patented lune l9, I900. H. SPUHL.

MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY BENDING CHAIN LINKS.

(Application filed. Nov. 21, 1899.) 0 IM B 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

fl garneg.

No. 652,I47. Patented Iune l9, I900. H. SPlIHL.

MACHINE FOB AUTOMATICALLY BENDING CHAIN LINKS.

(Application filed Nov. 21. 1899.\ (No Nodal.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5..

,w @g. I

- flii'arneg.

" ing the first quarter of turn of the main shaft UNITED STATES PATENTOFF C HEINRICH SPUHL, OF ST. .GALL," SIVITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THEMASOHINENFABRIK ST. GEORGEN BEI S'I. GALLEN GOTTFR. V. SUSSKIND, OF ST.GEORGEN, SNVITZERLAND.

MACHINE FOR AUTOMATlCALLY BENDING CHAIN-LINKS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 652,147, dated June 19,1900. Application filed November 21,1899. Serial No. 737,826. (Nomodel.)

T0 to whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HEINRICH SPiiHL, a citizen of the Confederation ofSwitzerland, and a resident of St. Gall, Switzerland, have inventedanewand Improved Machine for Bending Automatically Chain-Links, (forwhich applications for patents have been filed in Germany on the 13th ofSeptember, 1899, in Norwayon the 3d of October, 1899, in France on the29th of September, 1899, in Sweden on ihe29th of September, 1890, and inDenmark on the 2d of October, 1899,) of which the following is an exactspecification.

The object of the present invention is to provide a machineforautomatically bending chain-links in which rolled wire or an ironbillet is advanced at certain intervals, cut, and bent around a mandrelin such manner be booked in the last link of the chain already finished.The welding of the extremithen be effected either by hand ormechanically.

The automatic work characterizing this machine essentially is thefollowing: Durthe wire is advanced, during the second quarter the wireis'cut and bent around the upper surface of a mandrel, during the thirdquarter of turn of the main shaft a pair of tongues eifects the bendingof the lower wire extremities, while during the fourth quarter -of turnthe bending mechanism returns into original position and the remainingbent 'chain'link is removed from the mandrel.

This is the essential novelty of myinvention; but there are,furthermore, some special constructions relating to the advance of thewire, to the heating of the same during the feeding, and means forsecuring the movement of the bendingtongues. These particularmechanismswill be fully described in the detailed descriptionhereinafter. I, now only point out the essential features which differfrom the known constructions. The heater, which is necessary for thestrong wire-gages in order to allow of the wire being easily bent, isarranged in a peculiar manner between the bending mechanism and thetransporting mechanism, and consists of a forge, the coals of .whichsurround the wire. The forge is provided with a movable bottom, by meansof which air is admitted and ashes can be removed without the coalsdirectly surrounding thewire being altered in position. In my machinethe adjustable mechanism effecting the advance of the wire is also new,the return of the bending pair of tongues being caused by spring orweight pressure and determined by an adjustable stop. Furthermore, thedriving mechanism for the bending-tongues is anovel one. This mechanismconsists of a wheel provided with teeth upon 1 the half of itscircumference and of a special arrangement securing the rengagement.These are the essential novel points in my 1 improved machine. as toform an open chain-link susceptible to Myinvention will be the betterunderstood with reference to the accompanying drawlugs, in which ties ofthe readily-bent open chain-link might 3 Figure 1 illustrates anelevational View of imy machine, some parts being illustrated insection. partly in section. .detail views of the mechanism actuating thepair of tongues. line w as, Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a lateral view of the same, Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate Fig. 5 isa section through Fig. 6 shows a detail view of the advance mechanism,the illustration beinga right-hand supplement of Fig. 2. Fig. 7illustrates a section through line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 isasectionthrough line zof Fig. 1. Figs. 9 to 13 are detail views of the bendingmechanism in difierent positions. Fig.

, 14 illustrates the position of a chain-link before being welded, theWelding being eflected at the round part of the link. Fig. 15illustrates a modified form of the bending mech anism, by means of whichthe chain-links are welded lengthwise. Figs. 16 and 17 represent detailviews of a pair of tongues serving to clamp the wire. Fig. 18illustrates the manner of connecting this mechanism to the machine.Figs. 19 and 20 illustratea modified form of the swages.

Upon the main shaft (i driven by the shafts a and a Figs. 1, 2, and 3,is fixed a crank 12, provided witha boltadapted to slide in a slot 0' ofa rod 0, linked to a lever c. This lever c is mounted upon a transversea shaft d. Upon the shaft 61, further, is secured clamp the wire h andto advance it at short intervals. g Figs. 1, 6, and 7, is a stopadjustably mounted upon the guide 9 for the purpose of determining thereturn of the slide g,caused by the action of the weight 71. Owing tothe ad j ustability of the stop 9 the length of the advanced piece ofwire or of the billet 72. might be predetermined and regulated.

In the construction illustrated in the drawings, destined for use ofwire of certain thickness, a forge 1, Figs. 1 and 5, fed by thefilling-shaft, is employed for heating the wire which passes throughsaid forge. The bottom of the forget forms a hollow rotatable drum an,adapted to be rotated by means of a crank m. The hollow space of thedrum 'm is in connection with a ventilator in such manner that the slagsor other detrimental products accumulated upon the bottom of the drumcan be removed from the forge by a quarter-revolution of the crankwithout the charge of the forge being shaken. By repeating theoscillations of the drum m the whole contents of the forge mightberemoved. The grooved bottom Z of the drum is provided with perforations,allowing the passage of the air coming from the ventilator. As alreadymentioned, this forge only is necessary when thick wires or billets areto be bent.

I now come to explain the bending mechanisms. The right-hand side of themain shaft a Figs. 1 and 2, carries a crank n, Fig. 2, having a boltwhich is provided with an antifriction-roller. This bolt circulates in agroove of the vertical movable slide 0, thereby imparting anupward-and-down ward movement to the latter. In the lower part of theslide 0 by suitable means is provided a swage 19, having a cutting-blade1), Figs. 1, 8, and 9. The swagep has a longitudinal slot allowing acertain adjustability of the swage itself. The circular opening of theslide 0 in its lower left part is formed concentrically to the axis ofrotation of the crank 11., so that when the bolt passes this part theslide 0 is prevented from moving upward. The cutting-blade 19 comes tolie upon the surface 19 of the angular guidep provided for guiding thewire. The conical opening of this guide forms the cutting edge. Theswage p is destined to bend the piece of Wire which is cut by the blade10 around a mandrel q of a triangular section, Figs. 1, 2, and 9 to 12.A disks and a spring 8 influencing the levers, are provided to effectthe horizontal movement of the mandrel g. This disk s is mounted upon awheel 1", carried by a crank-shaft 0", Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. The disk 8influences the lever s, which, owing to its connection with the mandrelqby means of the adjustable socket s, communicates the movement to themandrel. Besides the swage p a pair of tongues if, having legs 25 andif, is fixed to the machine-frame and also serves for bending the links.The pair of tongues is arranged in such a manner as to bend theextremities of the open chainlinks h around the lower edges of themandrel q, Fig. 12.

The actuation takes place in the following manner: The wheel 4*, partlybeing toothed and mounted upon the main shaft of, and the toothed wheel4", Figs. 3 and 4, rotate the crank-shaft 'r at certain intervals,whereby the toothed part of the wheel r causes the rotation of the wheelr and of the crank u.

The connecting rod u consisting of two parts linked to the crank u andto the rod 10 is regulable in length by means of a screw to, having twocontrary threads. lever o connects the rod a with the leg 15*, while 12is linked to rails o thereby connection with the leg I? being formed.Both rails o and the crank-lever o are linked to the A crank-lever m isfixed rotatably to the ma chine-frame. By means of a spring m thehorizontal arm of the lever a: constantly is pressed against thecircumference of the cam The vertical arm of the lever m is providedwith a nose to, directed to the center of the wheel 0". The nose w isarranged in such manner as to take into a recess y, cut into thecircumference of the disk y, Fig. 4. The nose 20 after one revolution ofthe wheel 1'' comes into engagement with the recess 3 and The crank-.

owing to the cam to only is removed from the recess y just before themoment where the wheel 1" commences a new revolution.

The working of the machine is the following: The main shaft a is rotatedin the direction indicated by the arrow Z, Fig. 1. During the firstquarter of turn of this main shaft the crank b and the connecting-rod c.

oscillate the levers e 6' into the position indicated by dotted lines,Fig. 1. During the commencement of this movement the cams f of thelevers f are pressed against the wire or the billet h,which thereby isclamped, and during the further movement of the oscillation is advancedthe predetermined distance. During the second quarter of revolution ofthe crank the arms f are removed from the wire owing to the weight 2',whereafter the levers e e are returned into original position, whileowing to the levers f f the slide-carriage g is pushed backward againstthe stop 9 When the wire or the billet his advanced, a new piece of wire.enters the forge Z and the piece formerly heated passes through theguide f and is bent around the mandrel q, Fig. 9. After the firstquarter of revolution of the main shaft 01. the bolt of the crank itacts upon the slide 0 and causes the sinking of the swage p,which infirst line cuts the advanced piece of wire h and then places the cutpiece around the curved upper part of the mandrel q, Fig. 10. When themain shaft commences its third quarter of revolution, the toothedsegment 7' takes into the wheel 0 Thereby the bending of the extremitiesof the open links 7t, Fig. 12, around the mandrel q is effected by theintermediate cranks to, u and a crank-levers o and Q1 and rails 12 theseintermediate parts causing the closure of the pair of tongues. Duringthe third quarter of revolution of the main shaft a the bolt of thecrank 11. passes the segment-formed part in the groove of the slide 0and there prevents the swage p from rising. During the last quarter ofrotation the upper swage p is raised, the pair of tongues t is opened,and the mandrel q is horizontally pushed backward, so that thereadily-bent chain-link falls down into normal position. This procedureautomatically is repeated until the machine is stopped or the quantityof wire is exhausted. The chain-link bent in the manner heretoforedescribed can be hooked into the last link of the chain already finishedand brought into the form represented in Fig. 14 either by hand ormechanically. The superposed extremities then are welded. As illustratedin Fig. 14, the weldingis effected at the curved part.

Fig. 15 illustrates a modified form of construction of the swagep,of themandrel q, and

of the pair of tongues 75, the latter being indicated by one of its legsonly. In this construction the chain-link is bent in such a manner as toallow of the welding at the longitudinal sides. In order to secure thewire or the billet during the return of the slide-carriage g and duringthe cutting by the blade 1.), a pair of tongues A is arranged behind theslide-carriage g, which in the moment where the slidecarriage commencesits backward movement clamps the wire and secures it againstdisplacement. The working of the pairof tongues illustrated in Figs. 16and 17 clearly can be seen from Fig. 18. A crank B, moving the upperpart of the carriage'g, is mounted upon the shaft cl. The lowerextremity of this crank is provided with a projection O, which when thecrank advances (during the return of the slide-carriage) pushes thelever E aside and during the return presses against the inclined surfaceD, adjustably fixed to the lever E, whereby, as can be seen clearly fromFigs.

16 and 17, the lever E is raised and the pair of tongues A is opened.The closure is ef- I fected by means of the weight F. The bolt of theslide-carriage g must be guided in a straight line in order to prevent abending of the wire.

Figs. 19 and 20 illustrate a modified construction of the swages. Inthese constructions the swage is provided with a slot G,allowing asecure bending of the extremities of the links.

Having thus fully described the nature of my said invention, what Idesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is- In a machinefor automatically bending chain-links, the combination of a main shaft aimparting motion to all parts, with a slidecarriage taking up the Wireto be employed, a lever 6 having opposite arms f, cams f fixed to thearmsf by means of levers f, said cams f clamping the Wire, a weight 2'acting upon the lever e and causing its return, a stop g determining therunning backward of the slide-carriage, a connecting-rod 0 cansing theslide-carriage g to slide within the guide g, a forgel effecting theheating of the wire extremity, a mandrel of triangular or egg formarranged in front ofthe forge, an annular boring 19 serving to guide thewire, a swage 19 raised and lowered by rotation of the main shaft a acrank it forcibly connected to the main shaft and circulating within aslide-carriage 0 to which the swage p is fixed, said circulationscausing the upward-anddownward movement of the swage, a cutting blade 29fixed to the swage p and cutting the advanced piece of wire, said swagebending the cut piece of wire around the upper part of the mandrel, apair of tongues 25 having legs t 29, means for forcibly governing thelegs of this pair of tongues, such as to open and to closesimultaneously, a rod u linked to .a rod a and actuated from the maindriving-shaft by suitably-intermittent gearings, whereby during thefirst quarter of turn of the main shaft the wire clamped by the cams fis advanced a predetermined distance, during the second quarter of turnis cut by the blade 13 and bent around the upper part of the mandrel gby means of the swage 19, during the third quarter, the pair of tonguesare forcibly closed thereby bending the lower extremities of the wirearound the lower surface of the mandrel and during the fourth quarter ofturn the return of all mechanisms into original position is effected andthe readily-bent chain-link is removed, substantially and for thepurpose as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twowitnesses.

HEINRICH SPUH'L. lVitnesses:

WILHELM ZUBLIN, HANS KOLLER.

